The politics in Salem, IL (62881) are reflective of the state of Illinois as a whole. The city has traditionally leaned Democratic as evidenced by the most recent election results; however, due to the close proximity to rural areas, conservative values remain prevalent. The current mayor is John Ray, who is a Democrat. He is part of the local Democratic party and has been serving since 2017. There are two seats open on the City Council, which will be filled by a special election in November 2020. Several different candidates from both major parties have declared their candidacy for these positions so far. Voters in Salem will have an opportunity to participate in democracy and decide who they want representing them at the local level.
The political climate in Zip 62881 (Salem, IL) is strongly conservative.
Marion County, IL is very conservative. In Marion County, IL 25.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 72.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.7% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Marion county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 72.5% to 25.9%.
Marion county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Zip 62881 (Salem, IL) is strongly conservative.
Salem, Illinois is strongly conservative.
Marion County, Illinois is very conservative.
Centralia Metro Area is very conservative.
Illinois is moderately liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Salem, Illinois: r r r R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in zip 62881 (Salem)
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 340 contributions totaling $8,638 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $25 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 66 contributions totaling $8,487 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $129 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)